Managing virtual port channel switch peers from software-defined network controller

• US 10,193,750 B2
• Filed: 09/07/2016
• Issued: 01/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dasu, Santa, Mahajan, Mehak, Subramaniam, Sandeep, Basavanakattimatha, Sanjay
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Sai Ming
• Application Number:
  US15/258,916
• Publication Number:
  US 20180069754A1
• Time in Patent Office: 874 Days
• Field of Search: 370401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/245 Link aggregation, e.g. trunking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/64 using an overlay routing layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/70 Virtual switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/324 in the data link layer [OSI layer 2], e.g. HDLC

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for configuring a virtual port channel (VPC) domain. The disclosed technology involves determining that a first switch and a second switch are connected in a VPC domain, determining that the first switch is in a primary role, and determining a unique identifier for the first switch, a VPC portchannel number for the first switch, and an orphan port number for the first switch. Also, the first switch receives a unique identifier, a VPC portchannel number, and an orphan port number for the second switch. The first switch can associate the VPC portchannel number for the second switch and the VPC portchannel number for the first switch with a unified VPC portchannel number and create a first unique orphan port number for the first switch and a second unique orphan port number for the second switch.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for configuring a virtual port channel (VPC) domain comprising:

determining that a first switch and a second switch are connected in a pair of switch peers in the VPC domain via a shared VPC-peerlink;

determining, by the first switch, that the first switch is in a primary role;

determining a first unique identifier for the first switch, a first VPC portchannel number for the first switch, and a first orphan port number for the first switch;

receiving, from the second switch via the VPC-peerlink, a second unique identifier for the second switch, a second VPC portchannel number for the second switch, and a second orphan port number for the second switch;

associating the second VPC portchannel number for the second switch and the first VPC portchannel number for the first switch with a unified VPC portchannel number;

creating a first unique orphan port number for the first switch and a second unique orphan port number for the second switch;

sending, to a controller along with a request for port configuration data, the unified VPC portchannel number and the first unique orphan port number and the second unique orphan port number; and

receiving, by the first switch from the controller, the port configuration data in the form of VLAN address configuration data.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein creating the first unique orphan port number for the first switch and the second unique orphan port number for the second switch comprises pre-pending the first orphan port number of the first switch with the first unique identifier of the first switch and the second orphan port number of the second switch with the second unique identifier of the second switch.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the first unique identifier for the first switch comprises a first serial number for the first switch and the second unique identifier for the second switch comprises a second serial number for the second switch.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining that the first switch is in the primary role further comprises executing a broker service configured to inherit the primary role or a secondary role from the first switch.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

configuring a first orphan port of the first switch with the VLAN address configuration data;

configuring the first VPC portchannel for the first switch that is associated with the unified VPC portchannel with the VLAN address configuration data for the unified VPC portchannel; and

transmitting, to the second switch, the VLAN address configuration data for the unified VPC portchannel to associate with the second VPC portchannel for the second switch and for configuring second orphan port of the second switch.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

suppressing information identifying the VPC peerlink from the controller.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the port configuration data includes the unified VPC portchannel number, the first unique orphan port number, and the second unique orphan port number.

8. A network switch comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

determining that a first network switch and a second network switch are connected in a pair of switch peers in a virtual port channel (VPC) domain via a shared VPC-peerlink;

determining that the first network switch is in a primary role;

determining a first unique identifier for the network switch, a first VPC portchannel number for the first network switch, and a first orphan port number for the network switch;

receiving, from the second network switch, a second unique identifier for the second network switch, a second VPC portchannel number for the second network switch, and a second orphan port number for the second network switch;

associating the second VPC portchannel number for the second network switch and the first VPC portchannel number for the first network switch with a unified VPC portchannel number;

creating a first unique orphan port number for the first network switch and a second unique orphan port number for the second network switch;

sending, to a controller along with a request for port configuration data, the unified VPC portchannel number and the first and second unique orphan port numbers; and

receiving, by the first network switch from the controller, the port configuration data in the form of VLAN address configuration data.

9. The network switch of claim 8, wherein creating the first unique orphan port number for the first network switch and the second unique orphan port number for the second network switch comprises pre-pending the first orphan port number of the first network switch with the first unique identifier of the first network switch and the second orphan port number of the second network switch with the second unique identifier of the second network switch.

10. The network switch of claim 9, wherein the first unique identifier for the first network switch comprises a first serial number for the first network switch and the second unique identifier for the second network switch comprises a second serial number for the second network switch.

11. The network switch of claim 8, wherein determining that the first network switch is in the primary role further comprises executing a broker service configured to inherit the primary role or a secondary role from the first network switch.

12. The network switch of claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the operations of:

configuring a first orphan port of the first network switch with the VLAN address configuration data;

configuring the first VPC portchannel for the first network switch that is associated with the unified VPC portchannel with the VLAN address configuration data for the unified VPC portchannel; and

transmitting, to the second network switch, the VLAN address configuration data for the unified VPC portchannel to associate with the second VPC portchannel for the second network switch and for configuring a second orphan port of the second network switch.

13. The network switch of claim 8, further comprising:

suppressing information identifying the VPC peerlink from the controller.

14. The network switch of claim 8, wherein the port configuration data includes the unified VPC portchannel number, the first unique orphan port number, and the second unique orphan port number.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by a processor in a cloud controller associated with a network, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

determining that a first switch and a second switch are connected in a pair of switch peers in a virtual port channel (VPC) domain via a shared VPC-peerlink;

determining, by the first switch, that the first switch is in a primary role;

determining a first unique identifier for the first switch, a first VPC portchannel number for the first switch, and a first orphan port number for the first switch;

receiving, from the second switch, a second unique identifier for the second switch, a second VPC portchannel number for the second switch, and a second orphan port number for the second switch;

associating the second VPC portchannel number for the second switch and the first VPC portchannel number for the first switch with a unified VPC portchannel number;

creating a first unique orphan port number for the first switch and a second unique orphan port number for the second switch;

sending, to a controller along with a request for port configuration data, the unified VPC portchannel number and the first unique orphan port number and the second unique orphan port number;

receiving, by the first switch from the controller, the port configuration data in the form of VLAN address configuration data.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein creating the first unique orphan port number for the first switch and the second unique orphan port number for the second switch comprises pre-pending the first orphan port number of the first switch with the first unique identifier of the first switch and the second orphan port number of the second switch with the second unique identifier of the second switch.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the first unique identifier for the first switch comprises a first serial number for the first switch and the second unique identifier for the second switch comprises a second serial number for the second switch.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein determining that the first switch is in the primary role further comprises executing a broker service configured to inherit the primary role or a secondary role from the first switch.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising:

configuring a first orphan port of the first switch with the VLAN address configuration data;

configuring the first VPC portchannel for the first switch that is associated with the unified VPC portchannel with the VLAN address configuration data for the unified VPC portchannel; and

transmitting, to the second switch, the VLAN address configuration data for unified VPC portchannel to associate with the second VPC portchannel for the second switch and for configuring a second orphan port of the second switch.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising:

suppressing information identifying the VPC peerlink from the controller.